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NPR.org, May 15, 2009 - When the first cryptic bits of news about Dark Night of the Soul
began trickling in earlier this year, it all sounded too good to be
true. Though the whole project was shrouded in mystery, it appeared
that Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's
Mark Linkous, two of the most inspired artists making music today, were
collaborating on a new album. That alone was enough to get our geek
gears spinning with excitement. But there was an unusual twist that few
of us at NPR Music could make sense of: Director David Lynch was
somehow involved.

It all started back in March, at the South by Southwest music
festival and conference. A number of us on the NPR Music team had
noticed strange posters around downtown Austin, Texas, that read "Dark
Night of the Soul." They looked like movie posters and had David
Lynch's name on them, alongside names of some of our favorite artists,
like Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, Vic Chesnutt, Jason Lytle and more. We
wondered if it was some sort of musical film.

Soon after our
Austin trip, NPR Music received copies of the mysterious posters in the
mail. No return address. Someone was messing with us. I tried to find
out more, but had zero success. Then, weeks later, I finally got a note
from a publicist with all the details we'd been waiting for.

It turns out Dark Night Of The Soul
is an album and the songs were written by Danger Mouse and
Sparklehorse, though the myriad singers featured on each track also had
a big hand in composing and producing the work. The album was initially
going to be packaged with a book of photos taken by David Lynch. But
now there's word that the music may never be officially released at all.

An
unnamed spokesperson for Danger Mouse says that "due to an ongoing
dispute with EMI" the book of photographs will "now come with a blank,
recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: 'For legal
reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'" When
contacted, EMI declined to comment and wouldn't confirm whether the
label is even involved in the project.

I've listened to the record all the way through at least a dozen times, and can confirm that Dark Night of the Soul
delivers in every way you'd hope for. It's beautiful but haunting,
surreal and dark, but sometimes comical and affecting, with
ear-popping, multilayered production work. It just gets more
mesmerizing with every listen.